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theInvitationPROVIDENCE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH APRIL 2016

Italian Night 🍴 Saturday, April 16, 5-7pm Hosted by the Providence Presbyterian Women, this event is not to be missed!

Delicious pasta dishes, salad, bread, and desserts are complemented by time with friends both dear and new. Proceeds from this event benefit mission projects as well as continuing Christian education leadership training for Providence Presbyterian Women.

Wills, Estates, Medical Directives, & More Tuesday, April 26, 7pm

Hear the latest information on important documents you and your family need. Attorney Kristen H. Robinson of Courtesy Law, PC will discuss these issues and answer questions. This presentation is free of charge and there is no obligation.

Call the church office, 420-6159, to make your reservation, or register online, http://www.provpres.org/event-details/479350/1461715200.

JOHN DIXON & FRIENDS RECITAL

Our organist, John Dixon, will play a recital of his own music at Great Bridge Presbyterian Church, 333 Cedar Road, Chesapeake, on Sunday, April 17, at 4pm.  You will recognize some pieces in the program from church services at Providence. Other pieces will be new - the program includes five world premieres.  Most of the premieres are for piano/organ duet, with Valetta Fellenbaum playing the piano.  This recital is part of Great Bridge's Candlelight Concert series, started 20 years ago when the church received a grant to buy a Steinway grand piano, and John is honored to have been invited to play this recital. The organ at Great Bridge was built by the same company that built our own instrument, the Allen Organ Company. We hope you will come to hear John and Valetta play, and that you will take the chance to make some new friends at a neighboring Presbyterian church. Refreshments follow the recital. Admission is free; an offering will be received to defray expenses.  

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From My Open Door Jeffrey S. Bell, PastorAccording to the Palm Beach Post: a man being

sought by police in Ohio was unhappy with the mug shot that was circulated with the warrant for his arrest, so he decided to send authorities a better one. “Chip” is wanted for failure to appear in multiple cases including arson and vandalism and police posted a mugshot of "Chip" on their Facebook page, but "Chip" didn’t think it was the most representative of himself. To rectify this, "Chip" texted police a new selfie with the caption “here is a better photo - [the one you are using] is terrible.” Police posted the new photo on Facebook with the caption: “We thank ("Chip") for being helpful, but now we would appreciate it if he would come speak to us at the (police station) about his charges.”

Apparently it’s human nature to be more concerned with looking good than actually being good and this way of thinking isn’t restricted to thugs. Many upstanding church people are just as guilty of being too concerned with appearances. Too often we're more concerned with what others think of us than of what God thinks of us. Which is dangerous because it

produces Christians who think they can be good without repentance and that they are good because they look good.

We should not be satisfied with posting a better mug shot of ourself for the public to admire. As often as it's necessary, we should turn to God in repentance and allow Him to cleanse us from the inside out.

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full” (Matthew 6:5).

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean" (Matthew 23:27).

See you in church, Jeff

KAREN CAGNI RETIREMENT After 35 years of faithful service to the congregation of Providence Presbyterian Church, our Administrative Assistant Karen Cagni has decided to retire.  Karen began serving the Lord through the administrative tasks of the front office in 1981 when the founding pastor, Rev. Carlyle McDonald, asked her to come to Providence and help out a bit.  And help out she has. We are indebted to her care, grace, and presence knowing that she is very much part of the fabric that makes Providence a unique and vital part of God’s kingdom.  The congregation will celebrate Karen’s years of service to the Lord through this church on the last day of her employment, July 31.  Following worship we’ll have an opportunity to gather in the Fellowship Hall with Karen and her family, thank her for her gift to us, and present her with some tokens of our appreciation.  I hope you’ll mark your calendar and attend worship, and the party afterwards!

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT POSITION Providence Presbyterian Church (PPC) has a part-time staff position for an Administrative Assistant to work 30 hours a week starting July 1, 2016. The successful candidate will provide assistance to the Senior Pastor, professional staff and lay leadership to achieve PPC’s ministry goals as well as support the PPC family and community who contact the church office. For a complete position description click on Administrative Assistant. For more information, to request an application or submit a resume contact Dianne Stockmeier, Personnel Committee at stockm@cox.net. Last day for applications April 30, 2016.

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FRIDAY, APRIL 1

SATURDAY, APRIL 2

SUNDAY, APRIL 3 Jean Whittaker’s Birthday Ryan Bauman’s Birthday 8:45am Merry Bells Rehearsal 9:45am Sunday School 11:00am Worship with Communion 12:30pm Mission Matters Youth

MONDAY, APRIL 4 7:00pm Committee Chairs 7:00pm Boy Scouts 7:30pm Committee Night 9:00pm Men’s Softball Practice

TUESDAY, APRIL 5 Harry Rogers’ Birthday 11:30am Gad-Abouts 7:30pm Bells of Providence Rehearsal

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6 Frank Yurasko’s Birthday Matthew Flynn’s Birthday 6:00pm Congregational Meeting 6:00pm Kirk Night 6:30pm Kirkmusik 7:00pm Chancel Choir Rehearsal

THURSDAY, APRIL 7 6:30pm Men’s Fellowship Dinner Out at Yard House 9:00pm Men’s Softball Practice

FRIDAY, APRIL 8 Terrie Wichrowski’s Birthday

SATURDAY, APRIL 9

SUNDAY, APRIL 10 Buck Bray’s Birthday Joanne Anderson’s Birthday Day Ferguson’s Birthday 8:45am Merry Bells Rehearsal 9:45am Sunday School 11:00am Worship

MONDAY, APRIL 11 Men’s Softball Games Begin Pauline Stanberry’s Birthday 7:00pm Session Meeting New Members Received 7:00pm Boy Scouts

TUESDAY, APRIL 12 Don Singletary’s Birthday Brent Nielsons Birthday Dale Passarella’s Birthday 10:00am Dorcas Circle 7:30pm Bells of Providence Rehearsal

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13 Virginia McBurney’s Birthday 9:45am Mary & Martha Circle 6:00pm Kirk Night 6:30pm Kirkmusik 7:00pm Chancel Choir Rehearsal

THURSDAY, APRIL 14 7:00pm Women’s Bible Study

FRIDAY, APRIL 15 Newsletter Submission Deadline Providence Scholarship Deadline - Submit to church office by 3pm

SATURDAY, APRIL 16 Dennis Burford’s Birthday 9:00am Courtyard Graces 5:00pm Italian Night Dinner

SUNDAY, APRIL 17 8:45am Merry Bells Rehearsal 9:45am Sunday School 11:00am Worship 12:15pm Meet Your Care Team Leader 4:00pm John Dixon & Friends Concert at Great Bridge Presbyterian Church 6:00pm Youth Fellowship

MONDAY, APRIL 18 Jim Zamorski’s Birthday Jeannette Bray’s Birthday Tom Barrow’s Birthday Brittney Pursel’s Birthday 7:00pm Boy Scouts

TUESDAY, APRIL 19 Frances Stefonich’s Birthday Agnes Grillo’s Birthday 7:30pm Bells of Providence Rehearsal

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20 Stuart Snell’s Birthday 6:00pm Kirk Night 6:30pm Kirkmusik 7:00pm Chancel Choir Rehearsal

THURSDAY, APRIL 21 Nathan Deck’s Birthday 7:00pm Care Team Leaders

FRIDAY, APRIL 22

SATURDAY, APRIL 23 Connie Burford’s Birthday Molly Maifeld’s Birthday

John Dixon’s Birthday

SUNDAY, APRIL 24 ODU Campus Ministry Meal Jennifer Ussery’s Birthday 8:45am Merry Bells Rehearsal 9:45am Sunday School 11:00am Worship 12:15pm PW Coordinating Team

MONDAY, APRIL 25 Betty Barham’s Birthday James Flynn’s Birthday 7:00pm Boy Scouts

TUESDAY, APRIL 26 7:00pm Wills Emphasis Program 7:30pm Bells of Providence Rehearsal

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27 Sandy Hodges’ Birthday 6:30pm Kirkmusik 7:00pm Chancel Choir Rehearsal

THURSDAY, APRIL 28 Ejnar Jorgensen’s Birthday Skylar Burdette’s Birthday

FRIDAY, APRIL 29 Barbara Chadwick’s Birthday Byron Martin’s Birthday

SATURDAY, APRIL 30 Jim Simmons’ Birthday Nick Bolton’s Birthday Vicki Madden’s Birthday

THIS MONTH AT PROVIDENCE

NEWSLETTER INFORMATION Newsletter items should be submitted no later than the 15th of each month

for the following month’s edition. Please e-mail newsletter items to:

publications@provpres.org.

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SESSION NOTES The Session met on Monday, March 14, 2016 and conducted the following business:

• Joyfully received Linda Visser into membership in the congregation.

• Approved a plan to hold a Session leadership retreat to be led by Mr. Ken McFadden.

• Approved a request by the church administrative assistant to use the church bus to transport a group of administrative professionals from the Presbytery to the annual Church Administrators’ conference in Niagara Falls, New York.

ASK THE CLERK: WHAT IS CHURCH POLITY? Polity is derived from the same root as politics and refers to the manner in which our church is governed. The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church, USA consists of two volumes. Part I is the Book of Confessions, in which the church states its faith and bears witness to God’s grace in Jesus Christ. In these statements the church declares to its members and to the world who and what it is, what it believes, and what it resolves to do. They guide the church in its study and interpretation of the Scriptures and summarize the essence of Reformed Christian tradition. They direct the church in maintaining sound doctrines and equip the church for its work of proclamation. The eleven creeds, confessions, and catechisms of the Book of Confessions are both historical and contemporary. Each emerged in a particular time and place in response to a particular situation. The first is the Nicene Creed, which, in its present form was created in 381 AD. Next is the Apostle’s Creed, which, although thought to have been written around 180 AD, came to be in the 8th century. More “modern” confessions, the Scot’s Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, and the Second Helvetic Confession were written in the 16th century (I’m not sure what happened to the First Helvetic Confession). In 1643 the Westminster Abbey was convened to, in essence, determine the line between church and state (my interpretation). Almost 100 years later (clearly a work by committee) the Westminster Confession of Faith was adopted. This was later subdivided into the Shorter Catechism and the Larger Catechism. Moving quickly to the 20th century, we have the Theological Declaration of Barmen, which was adopted specifically to repudiate the false doctrines of theology in Nazi Germany. The Confession of 1967 was intended as a restatement of faith in response to the turbulent events of the sixties. In 1983 the church issued a “Brief Statement of Faith” for the Presbyterian Church, USA. This was coincident with the reunification of the United Presbyterian Church in the USA and the Presbyterian Church in the United States, which is now the Presbyterian Church, USA. Clearly, I’ve provided a thumbnail description of these confessions. Some are a page; some are many, many pages of detailed text. I encourage you to spend time studying the confessions of our church to get a much better understanding of who we are as Presbyterians. A copy of the Book of Confessions is available in the church library. Next month I’ll cover Part II, The Book of Church Order.

(This feature to our Session notes called “Ask the Clerk” is an opportunity for the congregation to ask questions they might have regarding how the church functions, church policies, or the polity of the Presbyterian Church, USA. Just email your questions to clerk@provpres.org.)

COMMITTEE SPOTLIGHT: ADMINISTRATION The Administration Committee is responsible for planning, preparation and implementing, with Session approval, programs designed to challenge every member of the church family in the stewardship of time, talent and treasure. It is also responsible for matters pertaining to, but not limited to, the annual budget process, personnel, church Treasurer, church Financial Secretary, Count Team leader, building use requests, and audits for all church checking accounts.

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MISSION MATTERS YOUTH GROUP When Mariah Smith, of Blankets for the Homeless, joined us for worship a few months ago, she shared that one of the things that any of us can do to help the homeless population is to provide them with “blessing bags.” These brown paper lunch bags usually include contents like bottled water, snacks (breakfast bars, crackers, etc.), toiletries (toothbrush, tooth paste, wipes, etc.) and more. During last year’s Advent Alternative Gift Market, the Mission Matters middle & high school group provided pre-made blessing bags to help our congregation begin to easily reach out to those who are in need. For most of us, we’re more likely to actually carry bags with us (and help others) when we can just buy pre-made bags - rather than having to go to the store to get all of the contents and build our own bags. Last month, the Mission Matters group gathered after worship to prepare over (80) Blessing Bags. While the group is not selling the bags, they are available to our congregation. Donations to cover the cost of making bags will of course, be accepted. Be on the lookout for a blessing bag table in the Fellowship Hall!

GAD-ABOUTS

PRESBYTERIAN WOMEN Presbytery of Eastern Virginia PW Spring Gathering is scheduled for Saturday, April 9, 9:30am - 2:00pm at Great Bridge Presbyterian Church. Register on the GBPC website, http://www.gbpres.org/grow2/women, by April 1st, or contact Kandy Keith, 681-1119.  Lunch is $7. Childcare available upon request. Sign up on the PW bulletin board at Providence to carpool to Great Bridge Presbyterian on Saturday, April 9. Beach Bags Ministry continues, supplying weekend food items for 14 Fairfield Elementary children in need. Each bag contains 10 nourishing food items: 2 boxed milks, 2 main meal items, 2 fruit juice or fruit cups, 2 cereals, and 2 snack items; that’s 140 items needed weekly. Pick up a few of these items (listed on the PW bulletin board) on your next shopping trip, and place them in the “Beach Bag” container in the old kitchen at church. If you would prefer to make a monetary donation, please give checks, payable to “PPC WOC”, to Karen Moore.

The Providence Gad-Abouts will go to lunch at Rigoletto’s Italian Bakery and Café, 2181 Upton Drive #414, on Tuesday, April 5.  The group will carpool from the church at 11:30am.  Featured on the Food Network show Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, the café is noted for their homemade food and 3 cases of delectable desserts. Make your reservation on the Gad-About bulletin board or call Peggy Deans.

MEN’S FELLOWSHIPOn Thursday, April 7, PPC men will once again travel outside of the church walls to

enjoy dinner at 6:30pm. Our previous travels to Gordon Biersch and Cotton Southern Bistro have been very successful!

We’ll gather at The Yard House at Town Center (4549 Commerce Street in Virginia Beach 23462). It’s located 4.1 miles from the church. If you’re interested in checking out their extensive menu, please go to www.yardhouse.com. Attendees may sign up on the bulletin board at church or on the church’s web page calendar. Questions or comments? See Pastors Billy or Jeff.

We’re looking forward to another wonderful night of food and fellowship!

BELIEVE STUDY CONTINUES After taking a recess in Lent, the church has resumed our study of BELIEVE. The focus of the study is to help each of us carefully consider what it means to think, act and be the person that Christ calls us to be. Through Sunday morning classes and sermons in worship, we are engaging the ten key beliefs, ten key practices and ten key virtues of our Christian faith. Over the course of this thirty week study, we are talking about compassion, stewardship, prayer, worship, Bible study, love, peace, joy, who God is in our lives and much, much more. On Sunday, April 3rd, we’ll focus on chapter 18 of BELIEVE titled “Offering My Time.”

PROVIDENCE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH5497 Providence Road Virginia Beach, VA 23464 757-420-6159 ・ www.provpres.org ・ office@provpres.org

Providence Presbyterian Church 5497 Providence Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23464

757-420-6159 ・ www.provpres.org ・office@provpres.org

Church Staff Pastor Rev. Jeffrey S. Bell Parish Associate — vacant — Pastor of Family Life Ministries Pastor Billy Ricketts Director of Music Valetta Fellenbaum Organist John Dixon Administrative Assistant Karen Cagni Nursery Supervisor Michelle Wofford Treasurer Carolyn Knowles Financial Secretary Ted Salter Sextons Gus and Mary Ann Villies

The Session Moderator: Rev. Jeffrey S. Bell ・ Clerk of Session: Gary Reese

Administration *Glynn Rogers, Mike Schroeder, Dianne Stockmeier Christian Education *Ray Maxwell, Carol HIckman Congregational Care *Don Singletary, Karen Moore Fellowship *Susan Ayers, Ray Hall

Mission/Outreach/Evangelism *Cecilia Daley Property *George Fitzgerald, Riley Hensly Worship *Rich Lindgren, Cathy Polychroni

*committee chair

YARD SALE - SATURDAY, MAY 14 to benefit Workcamp Virginia Beach

The youth of Providence will hold a yard sale on May 14 to benefit Workcamp Virginia Beach 2016. Donations are appreciated.  While cleaning out the garage, attic, linen closet and kitchen this Spring, think about our youth. Gardeners in the church: planting donations happily accepted! Please contact Carol Hickman for more info. 

SILENT AUCTION - SUNDAY, MAY 15 to benefit Providence Youth traveling to

Workcamp Spring Grove, PA

We are in full swing to raise money to send our youth to Spring Grove in July! Here’s how you can help: Members and friends are encouraged to use their talents to create items to be auctioned, or donate gift certificates from businesses they own or frequent. If you have an item that you would like to submit for the auction or know a business willing to donate gift cards or gift certificates, please contact Connie Burford.